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I imagine my 8" Henckles carving knife would be a pretty efficient weapon... It's straight, so it'd be a dagger rather than a slasher, but still...
A surprising number of criminals use kitchen knives because they are readily accessible or can be picked up for next to nothing at any thrift store. Also stolen steak-house knives and ratty old "hunting" knives...
In fact, in my 40+ years as a police officer, I've never seen anything like a quality "tactical" knife in the hands of a bad guy.
Why would they pop 150 or 200 bucks for a top-grade knife only to toss it down a storm drain if that pesky squad car stops?
The weapons of homicide include a very wide variety of tools and implements....Lug wrenches are popular, as are hatchets, hammers, pieces of pipe, screwdrivers... You name it, it's probably been used to kill somebody.

The problem is that most of those tools have more practical uses for which they are designed for rather than to kill someone.

Guns, on the other hand...

__________________"There is no special treatment for guns." ~WildCat, confirmed gun owner.

That isn't a research article. It's an editorial, barely one page long.

It isn't even a good editorial. Several members of the JREF Forum have made stronger arguments, even in the gun control threads. Yes, it's that bad.

Some of the highlights and lowlights:

Originally Posted by Hern, Glazebrook, Beckett

Unfortunately, no data seem to have been collected to indicate how often kitchen knives are used in stabbings, but our own experience and that of police officers and pathologists we have spoken to indicates that they are used in at least half of all cases.

That seems to be true for the US as well: no solid data, but the available data suggests kitchen knives are used in about half of all knife homicides.

Originally Posted by Hern, Glazebrook, Beckett

Also, with repeated sharpening of a flat blade, a pointed tip invariably develops.

Untrue. On the other hand, repeated sharpening does tend to blunt the tip of a pointed blade.

Originally Posted by Hern, Glazebrook, Beckett

However, now domestic blades do not need sharpening,

Untrue. Even the best steel blades will dull eventually, and few of the kitchen knives sold today use premium steel. I've had to resharpen all of mine.

Originally Posted by Hern, Glazebrook, Beckett

We contacted 10 chefs in the UK....None gave a reason why the long pointed knife was essential.

"Some commented that a point is useful", but it is apparently the opinion of the editorial's authors that the reasons given by the chefs do not imply the point is essential. The editorial's authors also contacted one manufacturer, which in the opinion of the editorial's authors "could give no functional reason why long pointed knives are needed."

Originally Posted by Hern, Glazebrook, Beckett

Government action to ban the sale of such knives....would make it harder to justify carrying such knives and prosecution easier.

Carrying long kitchen knives (without good reason) is already forbidden by the UK government. Absent special circumstances, the UK forbids the carrying of knives with a cutting edge longer than three inches.

In summary, that 2005 editorial is yet another example of proposing a legislative solution that would have no measurable effect on the problem it pretends to address.

I looked, and it turns out that all of my kitchen knives are pointed. (I used to have a couple of non-pointy long knives, but gave them away.)

That big chef's knife would be just as useful to me without its point. To that extent, I agree with the authors.

I use that carving knife only on ceremonial occasions (e.g. Thanksgiving). Its point is useful when dissecting a cooked turkey. I guess I could set down the carving knife and use a smaller knife for the tricky parts, but that would detract from the ceremony.

I've used the point of that carbon steel utility knife so much that it's gotten a little rounded at the tip. I'd like to think the authors weren't proposing to ban the sale of pointy knives with blades as short as that one (five inches), but they never actually say what they consider to be a long knife.

After all, the point of this editorial (pardon the pun) was to make its authors feel good about themselves, and to pad their vitas.

Unnecessary. Simply give each Briton a thorough psychological examination - a measure which is long overdue in any case.

All those found prone to violent impulses should receive violence-suppressing brain implants.

Those who complain about the draconian nature of the measure can be reminded that they have only themselves to blame for their violent stabbing urges, and in fact should be grateful that the violent impulses are being suppressed. They would not like the concentration camps.

__________________search now the spheres
probe the Universe
bring back word
what force so irresistible
as the will of free men

I imagine my 8" Henckles carving knife would be a pretty efficient weapon... It's straight, so it'd be a dagger rather than a slasher, but still...
A surprising number of criminals use kitchen knives because they are readily accessible or can be picked up for next to nothing at any thrift store. Also stolen steak-house knives and ratty old "hunting" knives...
In fact, in my 40+ years as a police officer, I've never seen anything like a quality "tactical" knife in the hands of a bad guy.
Why would they pop 150 or 200 bucks for a top-grade knife only to toss it down a storm drain if that pesky squad car stops?
The weapons of homicide include a very wide variety of tools and implements....Lug wrenches are popular, as are hatchets, hammers, pieces of pipe, screwdrivers... You name it, it's probably been used to kill somebody.

Because it won't break on them in the middle of use for some emergency (up to and including trying to induce a naughty person to leave you alone). I occasionally sell knives at SF conventions - but I carry nothing that is poorly made but looks nasty.

__________________There is no problem so great that it cannot be fixed by small explosives carefully placed.

Carrying long kitchen knives (without good reason) is already forbidden by the UK government. Absent special circumstances, the UK forbids the carrying of knives with a cutting edge longer than three inches.

Strictly speaking carrying any knife of any length without a valid and immediate reason is illegal, the only exceptions are folding knives with a blade of less than three inches which cannot be locked in position and knives carried for reasons of religion or national dress. Anyone the Police catch walking down the street with a kitchen knife easily to hand (of any length) is going to have to give a pretty good excuse to not find themselves in trouble.

Strictly speaking carrying any knife of any length without a valid and immediate reason is illegal, the only exceptions are folding knives with a blade of less than three inches which cannot be locked in position and knives carried for reasons of religion or national dress. Anyone the Police catch walking down the street with a kitchen knife easily to hand (of any length) is going to have to give a pretty good excuse to not find themselves in trouble.

That's why I always carry a watermelon with me as well as my stabbing knife

"Subject to subsection (3) below, this section applies to any article which has a blade or is sharply pointed.
(3)This section does not apply to a folding pocket knife if the cutting edge of its blade does not exceed three inches (7.62 centimetres)."

"Offence of having in public place article with blade or point."

The article in the OP is talking about banning long pointy knives from sale.

lucky nobody brought up the laws in my country. some knives are banned because they have a symetric blade while the same knive with asymetric blades are not banned.
butterfly knifes are banned and count as a weappon. But a samurai sword is not a weappon according to our laws.

lucky nobody brought up the laws in my country. some knives are banned because they have a symetric blade while the same knive with asymetric blades are not banned.
butterfly knifes are banned and count as a weappon. But a samurai sword is not a weappon according to our laws.

But on the other hand your most famous military knife is even legal here in the UK. I bought one recently since my nice Gerber Multitool is illegal to carry (locking blade). My swiss army knife is on my belt right now and used for all sorts of legal, non-stabby bits and pieces every day. Indeed not an hour ago a college came over to borrow it to screw a new HDD into a caddy.

I imagine that millions of sportsmen, Olympic athletes, target shooters, and others would not agree with Mudcat's view that firearms have no purpose other than killing. A rather quaint attitude.
Sometimes, regrettably, killing is practical.

But further, regarding knives..... If I were a civilian, and took my 8" Henckels butcher knife and made a sheath for it (often cardboard and tape suffices for the criminal element) and stuck it in my belt and went to Walmart... I would be guilty of "carrying a concealed weapon" under Missouri (and most other states) statutes.
If I were to employ this knife against another human being, I would be guilty of whatever went down; homicide, aggravated assault, felonious wounding... Whatever.

This would pretty much seem to cover what legal steps need be taken; make the criminal use of the weapon punishable appropriately rather than try to eliminate useful kitchen tools.

However, there has historically been a problem with added-on charges for the use of a weapon in a crime.
We have such laws here in Missouri. What tends to happen is that the charge tends to be a bargaining chip by prosecutors. "OK, plea to the robbery, and we'll drop the weapons charge."
Everybody happy...A conviction for the prosecution, no expensive trial, and a lighter sentence for the bad guy.
The victim is only rarely consulted.

Banning knives while not banning swords is fairly common from what I understand. The issue is one of concealability. You can stick a folding knife in your pocket and no one will know it's there until you pull it out and use it. That makes them easier to use for surprise attacks. Unless you're the Highlander, concealing a katana is a wee bit more difficult.

__________________Obviously, that means cats are indeed evil and that ownership or display of a feline is an overt declaration of one's affiliation with dark forces. - Cl1mh4224rd

Banning knives while not banning swords is fairly common from what I understand. The issue is one of concealability. You can stick a folding knife in your pocket and no one will know it's there until you pull it out and use it. That makes them easier to use for surprise attacks. Unless you're the Highlander, concealing a katana is a wee bit more difficult.

lucky nobody brought up the laws in my country. some knives are banned because they have a symetric blade while the same knive with asymetric blades are not banned.
butterfly knifes are banned and count as a weappon. But a samurai sword is not a weappon according to our laws.

Switchblades and butterfly knives are the "assault rifles" of the knife world.

No more or less deadly than other knives, but they look cool in Kung Fu movies.
On that perception, they got banned.

I've often heard that kitchen knives are the most used murder weapon in the world.
Doesn't surprise me at all.
Next time you have a chef's knife in your hand, think about what it would do as a weapon.
Pretty scary.

I imagine they get used in drunken arguments where people totally underestimate how deadly these things can be.

As a knife nut, I'm a bit saddened by all the knife bans.
I was thinking about getting one of the over-sized Cold Steel folders mentioned above.
It would make an excellent portable kitchen knife.

But it was pointed out to me a in a previous knife thread that the UK ban on locking folding knives has actually reduced knife crime.
If that's true, the bans may be worth it.

It's not clear to me that it really is the case, or if it's just one of those cyclical things:

__________________Rimmer: Look at her! Magnificent woman! Very prim, very proper, almost austere. Some people took her for cold, thought she was aloof. Not a bit of it. She just despised fools. Quite tragic, really, because otherwise I think we'd have got on famously.

Wow, I hope these people never see my closet,since as Society For Creative Anrachronism members my wife and I have quite a collection of sharp implements, rangings from a replica of a renassiance dagger to a Hand and A Half Sword, aka a Bastard Sword.

The weapons of homicide include a very wide variety of tools and implements....Lug wrenches are popular, as are hatchets, hammers, pieces of pipe, screwdrivers... You name it, it's probably been used to kill somebody.